FTL: Prequel -ESTABLISHMENT
by Dolphinflavoredicecream
Summary: In this story, the Federation is well established (for once), and nothing is wrong. At least that's what YOU think. In all seriousness, a secret task has been asked of the best employees, and a group of 6 venture into dangerous space. This story will lead to events that will happen after FTL, and make the actual GAME'S story, a minor inconvenience. All will be revealed soon...
1. Chapter 1: Grueling Task

FTL (Fan Fiction) –ESTABLISHMENT I would just like to know if it's interesting so that I may continue writing. Well, that's not true-I'm gonna post the rest of the story whether you like it or not.

**CHAPTER 1: GRUELING TASK  
**  
The day a Mantis dies from natural causes will be the day a Rockman dies of fire. If one were to reiterate, they would say a Mantis is strong, willful, and fast.

Albeit the people that say this are not wrong, they aren't entirely correct either. The Mantises are not exactly reliable in most circumstances, and previous incidents

have proved this. On the subject of Mantises, the recently formed Federation, whose motives will be revealed soon, has taken to recruiting Mantises for… classified

circumstances. After all, who doesn't need a strong and willful person? The reason I speak of mantises and organizations, finally, is because there is one mantis who-

you know, I'll just ruin it if I continue. Read on, find out for yourself.

On a somewhat related note, a Mantis, currently residing in the Federation's primary construction

hangar, is continuing his work that was interrupted the day before. This mantis is particularly picky about his projects. A few days ago he refused to let even the

Commander enter his study, by blocking the door with an artificial lock, inaccessible with the Commander's key. Of course he was punished, but that's beside the point.

Today, he was told to work on another "infantry" ship, which is boring to say the least. In his eyes, they already have about a billion more than enough. Instead, he

decided to work on his own side project. Consequences will ensue.

The PA system came on. "We are issuing a public announcement, I repeat a public announcement.

Stop the equipment, and listen." The whole hangar went silent with curiosity. "I couldn't possibly describe the importance of this construction, and our recent

encounters have hopefully reassured you as well." A voice peeked out of the amassing crowd, "Reassured us? They've threatened us!" This followed a quiet majority

agreement of the workers. "But today we have a very important announcement, and to follow with that, some bad news." The Mantis looks out his makeshift window

to see both ends of the hangar, of which one side a group of people whine about the bad news. The announcement continues: "The announcement is… there have

been people here who have worked to their full potential; People who have contributed to the most generous of amounts. These are the people that we cherish and

require every day. Today we are to recognize them, and thank them for their continued work and efficiency. Now the reason we are doing this, is not only to

congratulate them, nor to give them a raise, no, neither of these things. Today we are going to ask of them, one special task." There was an extended period of

silence, as the whole crew anticipated. "The bad news is, only those people will know of the special task-thank you all for your time, get back to work."

Every worker was silent and looked like an ironic hurricane stormed the hangar. After the single sound of a drill, the room lit up again. This led the Mantis to

wonder, who were the "special" people? He began to think of all the outstanding employees that achieved so greatly. "Was it the Zoltan?" The Zoltan are an

intelligent race, and mostly known for their variable green skin-tone. The Zoltan He was referring to was a scientist. He previously led a project on the improvement of

cloaking systems, which may as well have doubled the efficiency of the Federation's fleet. "Maybe it was the softy…" The only Human worker that he could refer to was

the only human that did anything notably excellent for the Federation. This human was the leader of a large cargo ship that was to deliver goods to over forty planets

that needed assistance. This was controversial, due to the fact that he was delivering the Federation's goods, and not anything else. The mantis isn't very polite to

do-gooders-He thinks they have something to hide. Countless other thoughts flew by in his mind. There were eight different races that worked at the Federation, and

he was only one of them.

After pondering it for a little while longer, he resumed his work. He, however, was not working on something entirely beneficial for the federation. His project was

supposed to increase crew productivity by incorporating an additive drug that increases movement and overall speed. However, it was only to affect Mantises. His

work was not discovered until yesterday, when he stole some chemical samples from the Federation's stores. He's been disallowed access to his study for a while, but

he decided to just work on it anyway. A voice came onto the PA in his study. Believing that no one knew he was in it, he was startled. "Please report to the drone

control department, thank you." He heard a click, then the normal factory ambience. "Why would they want me in the Drone Control Department?" The mantis spoke

to himself. All work on (or in) The D.C.D had been halted due to a staff shortage in the Security Equipment Construction (A very recent addition). Unsure of the

reasons, he marched downwards, past the ships and heavy-duty saws, eventually towards the stairs leading to the D.C.D. It was almost like a ghost town, if it was

compared to the rest of the hangar, at least.

As the mantis descended down the dimly lit staircase, and into the Drone Control, he immediately noticed that there was absolutely nobody there with him. The

room was more ominous than anything, due to the ironically low lights. After walking past several empty desks, he decided to

stop at an office door and look around for any signs of life. Almost incredulously, a slug came slithering out of the darkness, scaring the Mantis, which in turn, scared

the slug. The slug continued to explain that he was chosen to carry out the "special task" mentioned over the announcements. "Did you think thissss would happen?"

The slug inquired. The mantis naturally said "Of course I did."He couldn't help but think, however, that the captain's selection was peculiar, to say the least. The

captain has always disliked him. He supposes that this selection is not by chance. After simply disregarding this thought, the slug spoke, in his natural ssssnakey

accent, where to go and what to do after the encounter. And of course, the slug melodramatically slithered back into the shadows without a trace (except for some

slime).

The Mantis was instructed to report to the captain's office "Asssssap", where he will be debriefed on the task at hand. He was also told, very sternly, to not tell

anyone about it on his way there. The trip from the D.C.D to the Captain's office might be the longest trip possible on the ship they're on-for they were on totally

opposite sides. The mantis then deduced, "Maybe he meant for it; maybe it's a test of my will." He immediately accepted that challenge, and marched onward, passing

by all of the workers who didn't know he had been chosen, all the way to the elevator leading up to the Captain's offices (As in "more than one").


	2. Chapter 2: Introduction

**CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION**

The mantis immediately noticed, among other things, that the noise of the elevator was purely nonexistent. The silence only added to his excitement, for he couldn't wait to hear what this elusive task he had been hearing about was. His exciting thoughts were interrupted however, when a human abruptly stopped the elevator only a floor from his departure. And only after close examination did the mantis conclude it was the "Softy" that he heard about before. Although the mantis was not excited about _this_ encounter, he tried his best to not think about it. He had plenty of other things on his mind.

"The captain's office?" The human spoke. The mantis dreaded communication with such a pitiful creature; he'd rather suffocate in cold space than talk at this time, and at this place. "What would it concern you?" The mantis replied. He would say anything to end the conversation _politely,_ but he had to make sure the human knew Evicci didn't like him. "No reason, except I'm going there too…" The mantis was devastated. To have to complete the secret task with such a softy would be the epitome of annoyance. The mantis decided to stay silent for the rest of the ride.

Even when the trip to the captain couldn't get more gaucherie, the elevator stopped five floors below the captain's office, and two rockmen stomped into the elevator. It shook and startled the mantis. The softy didn't flinch, but instead greeted them and asked them how their day was. Somehow, out of five measly floors, the human figured out that they were brothers, who were doing the same as we were, and that one of them liked blueberry pie.

The captain's office, as our group will soon find out, is a sight to behold. The waiting room is a chrome-grey with two doors on either side, the floor was decaled with streaks of bright cyan. The two lights on the ceiling started on the opposite side of the elevator and descended down as if to reach for it. They all emptied out of the elevator and into the Captain's stately waiting room, they were greeted by a Zoltan. "_Renando" _was his name, and he explained to them that the captain would see them shortly. After hearing that they all had to wait, the two rockmen stood still as if they were about to wait for an eternity, staring straight as if their minds had just turned off. The softy coolly sat down on the nearest bench, and the mantis stared around as he waited. The mantis was not very attuned to waiting for long periods of time, and it made him somewhat irritated.

The softy, sitting unruffled and chilled with his right leg on his left knee, and arms resting on the back of the bench, spoke to the mantis: "So what's your name?" The mantis coolly replied, "Evicci." The human spoke, "_Evicci_… has a nice ring to it. Don'tchya think?" In which Evicci said, "Well, I have never heard anyone put it that way, but yes, I suppose it does." Just as the human opened his mouth to speak again, the elevator slid open and an Engi came spilling out of it. He fell to the floor, landing on a part of the Rockman's foot. Not only were they bewildered, but they were astonished as to how unorganized an Engi must be to just trip like that. Something must've happened; otherwise it was not an accident.

The Engi carefully stood up and held his face. The rockman didn't flinch or seem to care very much at all. The softy asked if he was okay, and the Engi didn't reply. Instead, he looked forward and said nothing. One rockman, surprisingly enough, said in a gut-wrenchingly deep voice to the Engi, "Engi must be more careful next time." Then the Engi replied, "Understood." The Engi and Rockman races are not very emotional, but they make for good allies. All emotion aside, Evicci was just about to say something, when Renando came back and spoke thus, "The captain will see you now." The human stood up and stretched, along with groaning loudly as everyone stared at him. The softy asked in a poorly disguised pretentiousness, "Well? Let's go!" The crew snapped forward as Renando started at a brisk march towards the captain's office, as everyone else failed to keep up.

It was bad enough with The Rockmen stomping as they kept up with the Zoltan, but now Evicci saw a slug coming up from behind. Evicci was at the very back of the rest of the crew, so Evicci had to take on the responsibility of greeting him. The slug calmly spoke first, "How are you?" As Evicci was panting heavily, he was surprised that the slug could talk so consistently without breathing every second. Evicci replied, "It's hard to say. I don't know what's going to happen." The slug mocked a gentleman, "Yes, I suppose that may lead one to question their present feelings." He laughed and then sped to the front of the crowd to talk to Renando. Just as he arrived to the front of the group, the Zoltan slowed down, forcing all of us to slow down as well. We stopped at a very regal looking door with a golden finish. The Zoltan knocked on the door, "Sir?" there was a brief pause. "Yyyyyes?" The captain replied. Renando looked at us and smiled, saying "They're here." The slug laughed heartily, and said, "Geez! Want some Zoltan with that creepy?" No one laughed, and the captain said "Well let 'em in! I got a lot to talk about!" "Right away sir." The Zoltan replied.

Renando opened the door and the crew walked into a slightly large room, with a starmap in the center, and various computers built into the walls. The captain was standing on the opposite side of the room. He was a human. Evicci expected this, but it was still nice to find out. The captain clasped his hands together, as if to pray, and said "Hello!" as he simultaneously scoured our crew for even a hint of excitement. He did not find any. He either found wonder, or anxiety. The crew let out a proud "Hello, sir." Except for the slug, who said after everyone else, "hi?" The captain looked at the slug with the same expression he had before, except now, he looked like he was trying to hide an immeasurable amount of anger, he then said, "Hi!" He shook it off, and continued. "Ok. I'm gonna try to make this quick! We all know you have a job to do. So." He walked around the starmap to the side of it. He gave us an enthusiastic smile, and spoke, "Gather 'round, everyone. Renando? Get out."


	3. Chapter 3: Departure

The captain made it blatantly clear, with explicit orders, what their mission was. To secure "Piece #4763" from the Binary System exactly _three thousand light years away, _was their task_._ These words, as they came out of the captain's mouth, syllable by syllable, weighed down the crew to what seemed like the fullest extent possible. This piece, as it is so inconceivably rare, is only owned by a specific group of people living approximately one-hundred-thirty-five FTL jumps away. This trip, although extremely long, dangerous, and overall intimidating, gives our mantis, Evicci, an unendurable sense of excitement. He can't help but think, though, that the crew the captain has assigned is temerarious, and not suited for the job.

The captain later explained that we needed every single hand we have on construction, in order to prepare for what's coming. "As they always say, better to have a gun and not need it, then to need a gun and not have it." The "Softy" spoke to Evicci as they were led to the bay to be outfitted. "Yes, I guess so." Evicci replied. The crew had to travel halfway across the base to get there, and the rockmen gave the rest of the crew a headache what with all the stomping. "Almost there." Spoke Renando as he escorted them to the bay, politely pushing the rest of the employees aside.

"What is our destination?" The engi said. The mantis was slightly amazed that he finally decided to talk. "The Bay." Evicci's answer coincided with Renando's. "Our objective at the Bay?" The Engi continued. "We're going to get you outfitted with your ship, clothes, weapons and such, and then you're going to leave at exactly" He stopped very briefly to look up to some clock, "0600 hours." That meant that they were going to leave at 6:00 o' clock, but really, for the crew, it meant they were going to spend at least six-hundred hours on a ship together to retrieve a part that's unfathomably important, and three thousand light years away, in exactly fourteen hours. It's gonna be a long night.

The bay was particularly quiet; only the sound of the neighboring firing range could be heard. The crew filled into the armory and was introduced to their trusty side-arms in which they would carry for the rest of the trip. From prolonged conversation, Evicci found out that Nicolaus, or the "softy," was the only one who had been on an actual mission before. Everyone else was either a scientist or an outstanding worker. Nic mentioned the ship he piloted before was "mediocre. It could've used some better colors, or less slippery floors," which left Evicci to question Nic's piloting skill. After the acquaintance with the armory, everyone was led to the ship they were to be riding in. Mitch, or the slug, detected that there were only four ships currently in the bay, each with varying traits and capabilities, and only one of them was the right one.

It was named the F.S. SAFEGAURD, for one of two reasons. One of them being it was safeguarding the federation, and the other it was safeguarding the crew. "It's soooo… green!" Mitchell exclaimed. It was also green. As Nic and the crew talked to Renando about the specs, Evicci decided to get comfortable with the ships layout. He closely examined it, taking in its every perk and its every flaw. To be frank, it was dark green and notably long. The FS Safeguard was a fast cruiser, with pivotal engines that could be rotated when needed. The weapons system was in the very front of ship, and the shields are in the middle of it, in its own room, surrounded by the oxygen subsystems. Jutting out from the left and right are the security and the med bay subsystems, in which are used for obvious purposes. The security has a feed to the small pilot's room right behind the weapons system.

Evicci was told at the captain's office that he was supposed to work the weapons system. He was fine with this; he's had previous experience during his home-world's civil war when he was just a few years younger. Evicci was in the weapons systems, playing with the equipment, looking out the window, and seeing the weapons wiggle back and forth with the power of a joystick. He stopped for a second and walked around in his small room, telling himself it's his and only his, when he slipped on a trail of a certain slug's slime he failed to notice before, and promptly went unconscious.

Evicci has really come to like the Federation base. Up until this point it's been quite nice, only when it's not unbelievably dark and somber. When he woke up, that was exactly what he was met with. Just a bunch of ominous control panels and computers was all that he saw. Apparently, the crew left him inside the ship when this section of the base went lights off. Not only was he terrified, but he also had a throbbing head-ache, that was causing dizziness. Evicci angrily navigated through the ship in complete darkness, and thought about where he was supposed to sleep. He exited the cruiser and walked towards the nearest egress.

And when steering through the Federation base in utter darkness wasn't bad enough, Evicci looked out the only window still open; he saw two figures right beside the pane talking to each other. There was a Lanius, and a Human, by the looks of it. If that was so, the room wouldn't have any oxygen. There was a human right next to him as well, which just made the Mantis all the more confused. Evicci felt the last breath escape his mouth, and he held it, as he watched the Lanius give the human a small letter. Evicci quickly opened the exit, noticing that the Lanius saw him, and darted out the door. He stopped and listened for footsteps to see if he would be chased. Maybe it was just a friend giving another friend an apology letter! He immediately disproved that point, when the door was ripped off of its hinges. Evicci turned and ran for his life, not daring to look back.

The mantis sprinted as fast as he could. The lights were still off, making it all the more difficult. The door he entered, fortunately, led to the hallway system that went to every corner of the ship. And because of the Lanius's oxygen absorbing abilities, _unfortunately_, Evicci will have to run into a different room periodically so the hallway won't run out of oxygen before he does. He hastily tried to recall a map of the ship from memory. With the Lanius close on his tail, he turned a sharp left and took another left rushing straight into the room in front of him. He came to another dark room, as a matter of fact, and caught his breath. The door shut behind him, and he kept on sprinting.

Soon after, he heard the door break open, and Evicci was terrified. He looped back to the hallway system, repeating the same painstaking process: Waiting for a corner, turning, entering a room, somehow looping back to the hallway system, and repeating, all with the Lanius not letting up at all. Evicci couldn't take it much longer, so he devised an ingenious plan. Eventually, they came to a small square room with four doors in the middle of a four-way intersection. Evicci dashed through two doors, emerging on the other side. When he came out, however, he locked the door immediately behind him, stopping the Lanius briefly. He then zipped to the other door, locking that one, then locking the other, and then the other, trapping the Lanius inside. The mantis dived away from the room, stood up and spit at the button to open the door, causing a massive implosion. Evicci hit the deck, and hoped he wouldn't get stuck inside of it.


	4. Chapter 4: Trust?

The next day, Evicci woke up _early_, which never happens, but there's obviously a good reason for it. As he was recollecting himself, he realized that he had completely forgotten what happened the night before, and it was just now getting to him. He had no idea why a Lanius would charge him for seeing a small letter being delivered. All he knows is that the Lanius isn't a problem now. What really troubled him was whether or not the security caught his chase, and if he would be blamed for the property damage…

The crewmembers were sound asleep in their own rooms and Evicci stood awake in his. He didn't know what to do except stare through a porthole into space and admire the stars. Just as he was about to turn around, the door burst open and Mitch came flying out straight into Evicci for a hug, saying "Hi!" Mitch wouldn't stop hugging him even though Evicci struggled to pull away. Eventually Mitch stopped, letting Evicci catch his breath, and letting Mitch say "You really showed that guy who's the boss, didn'tchya?" Evicci was confused. Had Mitch seen what happened the night before? "What are you talking about?" Evicci replied, trying to make it sound like nothing happened. "Dude, I'm a slug. I saw you running from a Lanius through the walls. It was AWESOME."

"Wait-" Evicci had to take time to process all of it, "Do you know why he chased me?" The mantis replied, with his curiosity at its peak.

"Well…" there was a long pause, "No, not really. Why? Do you know?"

There was another long pause. "No, not at all."

They both stood there thinking about it for a brief second. "Well, who cares? He's dead, and you'll never know! Whoop-dee-doo!" Mitch exclaimed. Evicci stopped and thought about it a little longer, remembering a shadowy figure receiving the letter. Maybe he knows what this is all about. But who is he? _Where_ is he?

Eventually the whole crew was up and about, and ready to take on this mission. They all ate breakfast in the nearest cafeteria, and immediately got suited up. A lot of people were surrounding the crime scene from the night before, wondering what happened. Evicci remembered seeing a camera once or twice, and he was sure of the fact the captain was reviewing it, but he hasn't been queried about it. They were going to leave in three hours; hopefully that's enough time to leave without being asked. The three hours were filled with mostly drills and preparatory countermeasures on the ship, which Evicci was more than happy with to assist. He can't even begin to count the times he's seen a ship explode by cause of amateur preparation. And now it's launch time. The crew was clad, in their positions, and ready to leave. They were given a salute and a final pep talk from the captain, and they were off.

There first jump, of the approximate 135 jumps needed to get to their destination, was in the middle of a small (relatively speaking) colony. It looked like a developed a colony, which is actually rare. There were many ships stationed next each other, trading goods most likely. Just as Nic was about to say something, there was a loud clunk that startled the crew. The hull was damaged. The crew frantically looked around for what had caused the loud thud, but to no avail. Evicci opened the door and peeked at the captain, calmly sitting in his chair, and asked "What was that?" The captain replied, "They're cloaked." The slug chimed in from the security saying, "We aren't the only ones getting hit. Look to the bow, about seventy-five degrees down." The crew was led to a small orange ship getting bombarded from three directions. Evicci deduced that the loud thud was part of the orange ship's hull hitting his. Immediately, Evicci peeked out again and spoke, "Captain, what do we do?" The captain spoke sternly, "There's nothing we _can_ do." Evicci then spoke, "We're more than equipped to handle this, sir! We can get him out of there!" "Fire up the FTL," the captain declared "we're jumping. We can't take any more of this debris hitting our ship." Evicci took one last look at the captain, and went back into the weapons control.

A spark of insanity had just struck Evicci. He talked to Mitch on his earpiece and asked him where the life-forms on the cloaked ships were, and to turn off the FTL drive. Mitch did as he was told, and Evicci turned on the weapons system. He started firing all he had at the coordinates he was given, and sure enough, all three ships were exposed. Just as sure as the ships were exposed, the captain was furious. Evicci didn't stop to think, instead he kept firing. Eventually the three ships turned on them, and the captain angrily ordered the crew to their battle stations. The enemies were fierce, and they would not let up, but the double layered shields could handle it. Shot after shot, they sent, and received, at one point it almost seemed as if there were not three, but ten ships firing at them. Thankfully they had a skilled pilot, so they dodged most of their shots.

There were two ships down, and one left. Evicci fired one last shot into its hull, marking the end of the battle. The ship exploded and accumulated with the other ships remains. They had won, but certainly not without some damage. Nic tried communicating with the tormented ship they had seen before, and noticed that it had left the second they started to battle. Needless to say, they scavenged the remains of the ships for scrap, (which is ironically the currency in most parts of the galaxy.) and prepared to jump to the next solar system. Evicci however, was not as prepared to take the consequences for his actions. Hopefully Mitch will have the heart to back him up.


	5. Chapter 5: Broken

They arrived near a desolate moon, with _nothing_ in sight (Other than a moon) _Perfect place for the Captain to scream_, Evicci thought. Although Evicci was not expecting it, the captain called him on his communicator, and said, "Evicci?" Puzzled, Evicci slowly drew it up to himself, "Yes captain?" Evicci replied. "If you're expecting a stern discipline, you can forget about it." The captain explained. "Um- Thank you, sir?" He didn't know what to say! The conversation was suddenly interrupted when a dark purple ship came flying out of nowhere. They fought well, and the F.S. Safeguard won the battle. But, they sustained moderate damage. The ship can't take much more; they have to get a repair soon.

They jumped to another Solar system, and then another, and then another, and they were all battles. They were running dangerously low on fuel and missiles. The ships have only dropped spatters of fuel, not enough to make a jump. This is their sixth jump, and they still have a long journey ahead. How were they going to pull it off? One thing is for certain, that _this_ jump will be better.

The crew was silent, all preparing to jump again-fiddling with joysticks and (almost) pushing a ton of buttons. Mitch the slug looked out his window wonderingly, and almost completely dozed off, when all of the sudden, "Holy crap!" The captain heard Mitch and looked to his quarter with an arched eyebrow. Evicci asked, "What is it Mitch." Almost afraid of what he would say. "There's- There's just- There's just fuel floating in space!" Mitch rejoiced. "Come on! Come on guys you have to see it!" The engi spoke up from the engine room, "Believability very low. Verdict: not funny." Mitch pleaded "Come on you gotta believe me! It's right there! Just- just- come ooooooon!" The captain replied, "Sorry, Mitch, we just don't believe you. Are we ready to jump?" Qi Zheng, the Engi, gave him the "O.K." and they were off. Their fuel store is only capable of making one more jump after this.

There's always a period of silence right after you jump. Just one second of complete quiet to make sure you really jumped and you're not just floating in interstellar space. This _silence_ was not present when they jumped to the next spot. In fact, the _second_ they arrived, Mitch yelped, in response to a moderately small asteroid hitting the side - window of their ship. Mitch immediately shouted, "We're in an asteroid field! We have to _go, now!_" The captain almost stood up from his chair, and a hyper cloud of intensity stormed the ship (along with asteroids). Dozens of small asteroids hitting the exterior made a sound that couldn't be forgotten, but instead engraved into the minds of the crew. The ship vibrated vigorously as they hurried to leave. 25%, 26%, Qi Zheng anxiously updated the captain with the FTL's status. The rockmen brothers worked very well, although the double layered shields couldn't handle an _asteroid field_. Just when it seemed like it couldn't get any worse, the ship was jerked to the left, and the crew fell over. The captain fell out of his chair, and the lights blinked red. Evicci, completely dazed by the situation, and, everything else, hit his head when he fell. It was nothing serious, but he hazily tried to stand up and look out the window, using the counter as a stand. In the background, he heard Qi Zheng struggle to ask for the order to jump from the captain. When Evicci was almost upright, really, he didn't know if he could trust his eye, but somehow, he saw a small orange stroke of color far away. It was standing still on an asteroid. He refocused his eyes, trying to make sense of it all, and realized that it was a person he was looking at. What was he doing in the middle of an asteroid field? Or in space? Evicci was startled and confused, and all other feelings of the sort, all right when he heard the captain say yes. Evicci lost sight of the orange, and it was replaced with stars fading in to the black space. The silence came back.

At last, they were safe. Well, at least safe from asteroids; safe from _hull damage_, however, much less so. The crewmembers all recovered very slowly, while the ship stayed silent; the blinking red lights just made it all the more confusing. Evicci finally stood up and said to the captain, still struggling to get up, "Did you see that?" the captain replied after attempting to get up again, "See what? An asteroid field? Yes I did." Realizing that no one would believe him, he decided to just drop it. "Never mind, sir." The captain stated, "Fine with me. Qi Zheng, do we have any fuel left?" The Engi spoke, "No." There was a brief period of silence. Evicci asked "What are we going to do?" The captain replied, "Mitch? Do you see any life forms?" there was an extra long period of silence. "Mitch?" the captain heard the sound of someone just snapping out of a trance. "Wha- Oh! Yes, sire?" Nic sighed, "Do you see any life forms? Anywhere?" Mitch replied, "Uhhhhhhhhhhh, no sire." "Ok good." Mitch said again, "Captain?" The captain rolled his eyes. "What, Mitch." The slug spoke, "What's a life form?" There were at least two groans of utter pain, and then the captain stated, "Do you see anything? At all? A planet maybe? Or fuel?" Mitch thought about it for a minute. He looked out the window, and saw a really big, grey sphere. "Uhhh, Captain?" The captain replied, "…Yes?" "There's a big grey ball outside. It's all… bamboozled."

Nic took one last sigh. He finally got up, and slowly trudged over to the window in Mitch's room. On his way, he spoke, "Can someone please turn off that re-" The blinking lights were turned off before he finished. "Thank you." He arrived and looked out into the infinite, cold space, and saw something he's never witnessed before in his entire life. He didn't speak. He couldn't comprehend it, what would he have to say? The wondrous "_sphere_" that he was looking at, was a large, grey planet, but there was something very wrong with it. "Crew meeting. Now."

The crew met in Mitch's now cramped corridor. They all saw what was outside, and they were speechless. The crew discussed what they should do in their current situation. The planet they were looking at was broken. Not in half; not in quarters; not in any way you would think. The planet was still a sphere, but everything, _everything,_ was not where it was supposed to be. The planet's core was leaking out of the side, but it stopped from falling out at some sort of invisible shield, that kept it from leaving. There were ceilings on the floor, and there were walls on the ceiling; nothing was in the right place. Every part of the planet was indeed, bamboozled. Nobody knew what happened, nor did they want to. They just talked about what they felt was the best way to go. They were stranded in space, next to a "Broken Planet," with no fuel and, essentially, no hull. They were stumped.

Arguments arose like wildfire, while people spewed out their opinions which then blended like incomprehensible smoothies. Mitch, being a little wrong in the head after that sudden jerk, decided to angrily stare at the planet and just wait until the argument blew over. He began to wonder what happened, when all of the sudden, the entire planet disappeared, leaving a sort of plasma blue shockwave as it left. Mitch almost had a heart attack, and, _almost,_ jumped into somebody else's arms. He looked to see if anyone else noticed, and they didn't. "Uhhhh, guys?" Mitch said scared out of his mind. The crew continued to argue, and didn't even pay attention to the startling spectacle that had just occurred. He tried again, "Uhhhh… _guys?!_" Still no response. He kept looking at the planet's dark blue invisible shadow, getting more terrified every time. He looked at the planet and tried one last time, "UHHH, GUYS!?" The crew looked at Mitch impatiently, "What!?" Mitch looked out the window to show them what had happened, and to his ultimate dismay, the planet was back. "UHHHHH…" Mitch wanted to scream. "Well?" The crew immediately got irritated. "There- there was- the- there was just a-" They all rolled their eyes and continued arguing, setting each other on figurative fire with their respective opinions. Mitch felt like he was on fire, and not feeling pain.

A declarative voice came out of the argument's blended voices, "So what? We go in there and we die?" The voice was Evicci's. "What else can we do? We are stranded! In interstellar space! If you have ANY other ideas, I would absolutely _love_ to hear them," the captain replied. Mitch cut in, "Okay, okay. Let's just take a bit to recollect ourselves, and do some repairs, or _something_ helpful. _THEN_ we'll go into the planet and die, ok?" The crew simultaneously sighed, and quietly agreed. The captain made the final statement, "Then that's what we'll do. Ok, everyone? We'll give ourselves thirty minutes, and then we'll go."


End file.
